Guard for hypodermic needles



'mesita my 13,1926. j

UNITED s-TAT s' PATENT voFi-ici-z..

JOHN

GUARD B' YPODRRKIC Hmm l Allplloation Med latch 8, 1981. Serial Ib. 450,308.

'lhe object of my invention is to provide suitable protection for a hypodermic needle during the process of sterilization separately In general construction, my invention consists in providing the needle hub in which the need e is fitted with a guard which may be placed .over the needle and detachably secured to the hub,'the length of the guard being suicient to'extend beyond the point of the needle and thereby prevent the same coming in contact with the sterilizing ve'ssel or any other object which might cause injury to the needle.

In the preferred form of my improvement, the hub is provided with a threaded portion upon which is screwed the tubular protecting ard, and desirably, the screw joint is magg left handed so that with the hub attached to the syringe with a right needle with the for the a clear; F 3 is a siliied'tview of the needle `hu handed screw thread, the removing of the guard would tend to tighten the hub in'position on the ge rather than loosen it.

With the a ve and other objects in view, the nature of which'will be more fully understood from the description hereinafter,`

the invention consists in thefnovel construction of guardsv for hy dermic needles, as hereinafter more fully escribed and dened in the Referring to the drawings; Fig. 1 illustrates the end of a in e with a hypodermic needle attache an with the guard unscrewed and in the act of being removed; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of theA hypodermic ard removed and with the usual tine wire inserted through the needle ure therein remaini andn e, as shownfinFig. 2, butwith the needle ard screwed in position, the latter being s'dwn'in section; Vand Fi 4 is a sectional viewillustrating a vesse containing sterilizing fluid and inA which the hypoderixiicV needle protected by its ard is placed during t e process of sterilizing.v Y5 represents the end of' a hypodermic Y and is provided-with a nozzle 6 a right .handed screw thread 'I there- 0in-8 repnents a needle hub having aY screw threaded socket 9 adapted to screw vided near its base with a screw threa containi tightly'upon nonle end 6 ofthe The needle hub 8 is provided with an extended nipple 10 of relatively small diameter through which the h odermic needle 14 extends and in which it may be attached in any suitable manner. This nipple 10 is (pro- 11 .preferably of the left handr character. represents a fine wire which isY temporarily inserted through the tubular aperture of the needle, but which is removed when -tho needle is applied to the syringe. 13 represents a guar of cylindrical cross section and tubular in shape and is internally screw threaded at one end to screw upon the left hand thread 11 of the nipple forming a part of the hub 8. kThis guard 13-is of a length somewhat greater than the needle 14 and preferably greater than the end of the projecting part of the wireV 12, so'that when it is in-position, as indicated in Fig. 3, it ma not. only act as a guard to the needle itsel Manson, cia'y minnaar, nssacmrsnrrs, Assioma or omi-nm ro nl sumo a nosimis. me., .a conronarion or minimum t but also to the wire 12, if the same happens When it is desired to sterilize the hypodermic needle, the guard 13 is screwed upon the ni ple 410 and the hub and its needle with t e guard attached may be detached from the syringe body and these parts may then be placed in the sterilizing vessel 15 the sterilizing iluid 16, as indicated in ig. I4. During this operation of sterilizing (which may include boiling) the wire 12 may be inserted or omitted, butuprefa of erably omitted, so as to leave the can the needle free for the entrance of the steryilizing fluid. -It Awill be seen that the guard 13 being open at the bottom permits the free access o'f the sterilizing fluid' to the needle and this may be facilitated by providing, i

desired, one ormore rfor'ations 17 in the side wall of the guar The guard permits the Huid to completely surroundthe needle an to circulate thro h the canula thereof as -well as outside, an sterilize the needle thoroughly. Even if the needle be put into the sterilizerwithmany other instruments (one of which is shown in Fig. 4) instead ofV making a separate treatment of Vthe needle by itself the risk ef injury to other instruments in the the needle from`A A steriliz'er is completely avoided.

Aside from the use of my improved guardfor the more important eration, it may be employed as part synne equipment t0 protectthe needle when lio not in use. While have shown the guard manner o attaching the' hub to the nozzle of the syringe, but prefer a screw threaded connection as shown. While the special function of the guard is to protect or shield the needle during sterilization, nevertheless there is an additional advantage obtained, namely, that of providing the physician with an absolutely sterile needle at the time of use for injection. After the hub, needleV and guard, with or 1without the syringe proper, have been sterilized as a complete unit, the guard may be removed.l bfy a twist of the ingers and the injection may be made without the needle itself being touched with the lingers.

ln some cases the needle may be attached to the syringe in some other manner, such as by being tted directly to the nozzle end 6 and in such case, the guard would be detachably secured to the nozzle itself, which would be substantially equivalent to having the needle hub 8 as an 1integral or iXed part of the syringe body. j It will now be apparent that l have devised a novel and useful construction which embodiesthe features ofadvantage enumerated as desirable, and while l have in the present instance Vshown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which hasl beenffound in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is toY be understood that l do not restrict myself to the details,as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.`4 D

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desirey to secure by Letters Patent, is :'-V

1; 1n a device ofthe character stated, a

"hypodermic needle and hub in which it is held and whereby it, may be detached from a Vsyringe body, the hub provided with a tapered nipple through which the needle extends and said nipple screw threaded only adjacent to its-base close to the hub part,

Y combined' with a tubular guard normally open on its end and detachably secured to the threaded nipple of the hub by being screwed thereon and also having a length whereby it extends at all times beyond the meagre@ point of the needle, said guard having a smooth interior diameter considerably larger than the diameter of the needle and the tapered nipple so that the disinfectant fluid may contact with both the needle and tapered nipple, the construction being such that the hubassociated With the needle and guard may be detached from the syringe body when they are to be placed in an antiseptic fluid or when being stored.

2. In a device of the character stated, a hypodermic needle and a hub in which it is held and whereby `it may be detached from a syringe body, said hub screw threaded on its inside for attachment to said syringe -body and provided with a tapered nipple through which the needle extends and said nipple screw threaded on its outer surface adjacent to the hub part, one of said screw threads being right handed and the other` left handed, combined with a tubular guard normally open on its end'and detachably secured to the nipple of the hub by being screwed thereon, said guard extending beyond the point of the needle and considerably larger than the diameter of the needle and tapered nipple beyond the screw thread thereof so that the disinfectant Huid may contact with both the needle and the tapered nipple, the construction being such that the hub associated with the needle and guard may be detached from the syringe body when they are placed in an antiseptic fluid and whereby the guard is detachable from the nipple and may be unscrewed from the nipple `without loosening the hub upon the syringe body.

3. In a hypodermic syringe, a body, a needle, and means comprising a hub having la screw threaded nipple for holding the both the needle and the nipplesupporting it may be fully shielded and at the same time freely subjected to a sterilizing Huid passing into the chamber of the guard while it protectsthe needle against injuryhsaid guard being detachable to expose the sterilized needle for immediate use by the physician Without touching it with the iingers. L l

lln .testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

` JOM MACGREGOR. 

